Friday, October 05, 2007

Environmentally friendly fashion advice

Caffeine, chocolate and alcohol - forget them. I might as well face it, I'm totally addicted to clothes and buying them gives me a real kick.

Of course, I've always known that this addiction doesn't help my bank balance (nor the tidiness of my flat) ? but I'd never really thought about the environmental impact of clothes ? until I met Rebecca Earley, a "green" clothes designer. Read my interview with her and you'll find out what makes many of the clothes we wear environmentally unfriendly, and what textile designers like Becky can do about it.

So what about my addiction to new clothes? To my delight, Becky told me of ways that I could acquire new clothes ? without actually buying them. It's a boon for me, my boyfriend (who now has more wardrobe space), my bank manager ? and, of course, the environment. And she also had lots of helpful tips for greening the wardrobe I already have.

How to get new clothes without buying them:

Redesign the clothes you've already got. Cut into the neck line of that green top or cut off the sleeves of the yellow one. Cut the bottom off the long black skirt or pink trousers. Print over the T-shirt you haven?t worn since you were 12, dye those white trousers and that bridesmaid's dress. Add details to all ? from buttons and badges to ribbons. (If you're totally sewing-illiterate, you could take your item to a seamstress/tailor.)

Re-organise outfits. Put together items (including accessories) you've never worn together before. Layer clothes. Put them on back-to-front or upside-down or inside-out. In Becky's words, "buy less, and style more".

Swap clothes. Invite friends and family round (making sure some of them are people whose clothes you like, and who are the same size) and exchange clothes over a few glasses of wine (OK, I lied ? I have a slight addiction to alcohol too). Ply your best friend with alcohol until she gives you that top you've always wanted.

Tidy up your wardrobe and underneath your desk at work. You never know what you might find lurking there ? perhaps a pair of trousers you had forgotten all about.

And to minimise the impact of your existing clothes on the environment:

Don't wash something just because you've worn it once ? wait until you really need to wash it (your friends and colleagues will remind you). Think: can that little bit of ketchup be sponged off? Cut neckline or armpit holes lower.

If you really do need to wash, do it at 30 °C.

Don?t tumble dry. Use clothes racks and lines instead (this might even save you from having to iron them!).

Rather than throwing something away because it's got an imperfection ? like a tiny hole ? try and repair it with a patch, or a needle and thread.

And if you really, really can't give up buying clothes then try to:

Avoid whimsical buying ? sleep on it instead. Your mood might be different tomorrow and you might not like it anymore.

Only buy clothes that are going to last ? not just the night, but the whole season and longer.

Try to avoid patent leather and turquoise ? they're both extremely polluting (real turquoise dyes contain copper that gets released in to the environment with the waste water).

So, if you see someone walking down the street with a ketchup-slopped, BO-stained, back-to-front top and a pair of sawn-offs inside out... it might well be me. But at least my conscience will be clean. And who knows ? after some practice ? I may even look as glamorous as Becky Earley.

Hey dudes I used to knit my own knickers from sheep I just killed in the back yard, how carbon neutral that was. Beat that greenies! However, the chaffing made me re-think my outlook in life and now I wear the comfortable and extra value garments sold by the highstreet. I will never read something called Pesticide Action Network, why do you even cite them, these are biased lobby groups.

I've been doing most of these for years!I am so proud of myself!However, I just bought a pair of patent leather shoes because I did not know they are poison!I will never buy them new again.The one upstairs, don't be so cynical. Being green doesn't mean you have to forgo all the luxury in life and to go such an extreme.Everybody just do a little bit and the environment will be a lot better.One'll totally miss the point if only focus on some tiny discrepancy he has with the article.

Hey TrinnieIf you don't want pesticides on yer cotton smalls I would suggest good ol GM cotton, best thing since sliced bread. Does away with all those pesticides.No doubt you are going to tell me it does not, well show me the evidence then. That is evidence by the way- goes with trials and things like that, bedrock of science kind of stuff- not an unsubstantiated interview of one stir-crazed farmer in the middle of the mid-west who does not like paying his seed bills.

"The whole season"? Good heavens - I feel disgruntled when my clothes last than a year of daily or weekly wear. I still have several clothing items from the 90s that I still wear. I'll admit, though, that my wardrobe tends to be a bit scruffy as a result.

The article on patent leather you include a link to states that the finish used for patent leather is in general '...Linseed oil of sufficient purity and the dye known as Prussian blue seem to have been the basis of most patent leather finishes...'Pressian is an iron cyanide complex which is very stable and relativly friendly as these things go. However i would say that the use of chromium salts for the tanning process itself is of far greater envoromental concern, no?

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